Can the DJI Avata be flown at night?  I'm interested in setting up LED lit hoops to fly through but was wondering if this could be done at night time.  For some reason I though the sensors required natural day light.

I've flown the Avata many times at night. Just be sure that your takeoff/landing area has some sort of light. Low to no light will make for an interesting landing.

KLRSKIR Posted at 1-9 07:01
I've flown the Avata many times at night. Just be sure that your takeoff/landing area has some sort of light. Low to no light will make for an interesting landing.

Okay kewl.  Thanks for the hint.  I guess I will start out in a relatively level area with no real obstructions to get used to it and then go from there.  Maybe even to start out at dusk.  But take off/landing in a lit area is a good hint.  Thank you!

You bet! And yes, DEFINITELY have a clear spot that is level. I have found that if the light is low and you are low to the ground the bottom vision sensors with act funny and the aircraft will drift, even with solid GPS.

KLRSKIR Posted at 1-9 10:24
You bet! And yes, DEFINITELY have a clear spot that is level. I have found that if the light is low and you are low to the ground the bottom vision sensors with act funny and the aircraft will drift, even with solid GPS.

Yup .... this is what I was figuring.  Thanks again.

This pilot had no trouble with flying his Avata at night.  

DowntownRDB Posted at 1-9 15:43
This pilot had no trouble with flying his Avata at night.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bwGb860I6Y

Looks like most of the time he flew high

Hi, RichfromHowellNJ. Thank you for reaching out. There is no night shooting mode for DJI Avata. It is recommended to shoot a night scene when the lighting conditions are good. We also suggest you fly the drone with more caution. We'll leave the other Pros and Cons of flying at night to your DJI Co-Pilots with first-hand experience of flying the DJI Avata. Should you have other concerns, please reach back here at DJI Forum. Have a nice day!

DJI Tony Posted at 1-9 20:36
Hi, RichfromHowellNJ. Thank you for reaching out. There is no night shooting mode for DJI Avata. It is recommended to shoot a night scene when the lighting conditions are good. We also suggest you fly the drone with more caution. We'll leave the other Pros and Cons of flying at night to your DJI Co-Pilots with first-hand experience of flying the DJI Avata. Should you have other concerns, please reach back here at DJI Forum. Have a nice day!

@DJI Tony - guess my question was how the collision avoidence sensors would work in low light.  Do they require light to work?

RichfromHowellNJ Posted at 1-9 16:37
Looks like most of the time he flew high

He sure did.  You can fly the Avata at night as long as the sensors can pick up enough light to be effective.  I'd try it in a well lit parking lot and see how well the sensors work in that environment.  I can tell you that when I fly a GPS drone at night trying to land can get tricky as the downward sensors have issues working without enough light.  Fortunately the Air 2S has a bottom light that can be turned on for landing.

DowntownRDB Posted at 1-9 15:43
This pilot had no trouble with flying his Avata at night.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bwGb860I6Y

cool flight

RichfromHowellNJ Posted at 1-9 22:15
@DJI Tony - guess my question was how the collision avoidence sensors would work in low light.  Do they require light to work?

We understand. DJI Avata does not support forward obstacle sensing and avoidance. It only supports downward obstacle sensing when used with DJI FPV Remote Controller 2, or DJI Motion Controller in N Mode and S Mode. In addition, the Vision System cannot work properly in areas where the light is too weak. It is recommended to maintain flight control at all times, make reasonable judgments based on the surrounding environment, and avoid over-relying on the Downward Vision System. We hope this clarifies your concern.

@DJI Tony - this helps allot.  I didn't release that the Avata does not support forward obstacle sensing and avoidance even in good light hills in N or S Modes while even in good light using the DJI Motion Controller.  Maybe time for an old man like to fly it a little more conservatively.  Thank you.

JAMh Posted at 1-10 22:18
cool flight

I thought so also.  

You can fly at night as long as there is enough "lighting" around for you to be able to see where your flying. Flying low to the ground the vision positioning sensors will not work or work well which will just make precise hovering less accurate in normal or manual mode so you'll see a little more side to side drift and hunting to hold position. I don't know the exact accuracy of the GPS  accuracy on the Avata but I think it's something like 3ft (don't quote me on that). The VPS is what get's that accuracy alot more precise when it can see the ground in a well lit environment. Bottom line is in a hover you may see a the aircraft hunt for it's position in a little wider area since it's only relying on the GPS and not GPS plus the extra VPS accuracy.

Big Fil Posted at 1-13 16:38
You can fly at night as long as there is enough "lighting" around for you to be able to see where your flying. Flying low to the ground the vision positioning sensors will not work or work well which will just make precise hovering less accurate in normal or manual mode so you'll see a little more side to side drift and hunting to hold position. I don't know the exact accuracy of the GPS  accuracy on the Avata but I think it's something like 3ft (don't quote me on that). The VPS is what get's that accuracy alot more precise when it can see the ground in a well lit environment. Bottom line is in a hover you may see a the aircraft hunt for it's position in a little wider area since it's only relying on the GPS and not GPS plus the extra VPS accuracy.

Interesting.  Thank you for the explanation.  But just to confirm there are no forward sensors day or night for the Avata is that correct?

RichfromHowellNJ Posted at 1-14 03:25
Interesting.  Thank you for the explanation.  But just to confirm there are no forward sensors day or night for the Avata is that correct?

You are correct there are no sensors in the front. On the Avata there are only downward sensors.

I can add this... I tried to fly at night a few times and the avata goes up about 5 feet and then shows in the goggles that it's too dark to fly and it auto lands. However, it should be noted that I live in the country and there are zero lights around when I try to fly at night, so maybe adding some lights around the avata to get it to take off would help. Now you're probably wondering why I would fly in complete darkness lol. If I can just get up to about 75 feet or so, I can see the city lights in the distance and what I was trying to do was film the new year's fireworks.

I've flown the Avata many times at night

ro_walker Posted at 1-15 19:46
I've flown the Avata many times at night

I assuming not low to the ground?

RichfromHowellNJ Posted at 1-16 01:21
I assuming not low to the ground?

Sure!!!

RichfromHowellNJ Posted at 1-11 02:20
@DJI Tony - this helps allot.  I didn't release that the Avata does not support forward obstacle sensing and avoidance even in good light hills in N or S Modes while even in good light using the DJI Motion Controller.  Maybe time for an old man like to fly it a little more conservatively.  Thank you.

Yes, it does not has forward sensors. But the drone can automatically brake and hover in place in Normal/Sport mode when the downward vision systems are enabled. We hope you have a great time with your DJI Avata. Have a nice day!

KLRSKIR Posted at 1-9 07:01
I've flown the Avata many times at night. Just be sure that your takeoff/landing area has some sort of light. Low to no light will make for an interesting landing.

I have many joke ideas in the pipeline for this drone and some serious ones.

It would be great for a security system as it is loud as hell and put a million candle power LED on a go pro mount, mount that rig inside a outdoor enclosure - launch on motion detection at night......

Whomever is lurking around at night then will be getting out of there I guarantee it if you swarm them with this rig. I would even want another one with a loud speaker on the same go pro mount - the twins would chase an intruder away as I would guess its intimidating as heck so loud at night

That's going to be the problem, the neighbors are not going to like the buzzing around the lighted course of hoops at night...... buzzy till 9 PM

Now that being said PM me the address I will be right over as that sounds like crazy fun when done safely.  

I assume that there's no collision sensors in order to not interfere with the close gap passes we want to achieve with an FPV drone.

Case study scenario...

Can it fly with the motion controller at a concert in an open stadium, so there will be GPS, at night and use easy acro when there's no good light conditions? Is it different when we use the remote controller 3 in manual mode? When we use remote controller 3 in manual mode are the back and downward sensors disabled? What's your advice for a night flight? the motion controller or the remote controller 3 what will give us better control?